Oxford Friend

This Oxford LGBTQ+ Helpline celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2020, having been operating since 1980. Set up as ‘the helpline for gay people’ by volunteers as part of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality, then advertised as ‘lesbian and gay helpline’, in 2020 it offered support and information to all LGBTQ+ people in Oxfordshire.

The volunteers of Oxford FRIEND have often stepped out from behind the phone. Since the 1980s, the organisation has offered face-to-face counselling, social groups, coffee evenings, and even discos! Working with other local groups such as OxAIDS, it has been involved in several LGBTQ+ projects around Oxford. It was part of ‘Project October,’ helping to create a Gay and Lesbian Community Centre at Northgate Hall. It was also part of the first Oxford Pride in 2003. 

The efforts of the volunteers have not gone unappreciated. In 2005, one of its founders, Doctor Pepe Catalan, was named as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Lesbians and Gay Men in the UK. In 2006, Oxford FRIEND received the prestigious Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. The helpline is still open on Tuesdays and Fridays from 7 to 9 pm, on the same number Oxford FRIEND have had since the beginning.

The helpline closed in 2020, citing a marked drop in the number of calls as the reason.

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